Leading RNAi therapeutics company, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the US District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Alnylam’s infringement suit against Tekmira is based upon Tekmira’s research activities providing lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-formulated small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules to a pharmaceutical collaborator.

As alleged in the complaint, Tekmira’s activities are not protected under the exemption from patent infringement for drug development. As described in the complaint, Tekmira has infringed a number of issued patents related to siRNA and LNP technologies, including: US Patent No. 7,695,902; US Patent No. 6,858,225; US Patent No. 6,815,432; US Patent No. 6,534,484; US Patent No. 6,586,410; and US Patent No. 6,858,224. Under Alnylam’s contractual right to enforce Isis’ patent US Patent No. 7,695,902, Alnylam joined Isis to the suit as a co-plaintiff.

RNAi (RNA interference) is a revolution in biology, representing a breakthrough in understanding how genes are turned on and off in cells, and a completely new approach to drug discovery and development. Its discovery has been heralded as “a major scientific breakthrough that happens once every decade or so”. Its a natural process of gene silencing that occurs in organisms ranging from plants to mammals.